Thank you Blair Witch makers for spawning all the Paranormal Excorcist Serial Killer found footage shaky cam shit that followed.

But did it really? After all, copycat films usually come out within the first few years of a spawning film, and the found footage shit (I'll agree with you on it being shit, by the way) didn't come out for a good 10 years. How long did it take for slasher rip offs after Halloween, post apocalyptic films to come out after Road Warrior, etc? A lot less than 10 years, I can tell you that. And it's certainly not a cost issue, as found footage crap doesn't take a lot of money to make.

There's a HUGE gap between Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, so I don't think you can fairly blame one for the other. Me, I think it's the proliferation of reality TV more than anything else.